: Re: Fictional cultures and languages existing in the same area? So I've got this fantasy planet X, where humanoid peoples Y and Z are at war on an island nation about the size of England, and

Readers will buy anything, if you can sell it. Vampires, wizards, talking animals, superpowers, sentient flat figures... Readers don't look for a realistic story. They look for a good story. Any premise will be accepted, if that's what is needed to tell your story, and if your story is good.

Take House as an example: the premise requires a doctor so caustic, that in real life he would never have been allowed to keep his practice. Also, most of what they actually do is plain wrong. Does anybody care? No, because the story is good. (Or at least, good enough.)

One thing you do need to keep in mind is consistency. If your setting is not internally consistent, that's like a hole in your sales pitch - everything starts to fray around it. Whatever your setting is, you're asking the readers to suspend their disbelief, and accept your setting as is. Which the reader is ready to do. But the moment you start to contradict yourself, you punch a hole in that suspension of disbelief - the reader cannot simultaneously accept two contradicting prepositions.

So long as your story is internally consistent, any setting whatsoever is fine.

If you're still uncomfortable about a particular element, you can try to justify it within your story, but that is risky: you would be drawing attention to where the fabric of the story is weakest. Sometimes it's best to ignore the hole, accept it as part of what's necessary to make your story work. Like the House example.

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: In the background of the Future As I've mentioned multiple times, I'm writing a military sci-fi novel. The focus of the story is war, and that happens far away from Earth. However, I'm starting

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: Sometimes a banana is just a banana Often reading analyses of books and films, I find that the analytics derive conclusions from the specific food or beverage that a character consumes. The

: Re: Fictional cultures and languages existing in the same area? So I've got this fantasy planet X, where humanoid peoples Y and Z are at war on an island nation about the size of England, and

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: In the background of the Future As I've mentioned multiple times, I'm writing a military sci-fi novel. The focus of the story is war, and that happens far away from Earth. However, I'm starting

: Coining words - when and how? Writing an answer to another question, I stumbled upon a quote from The Hobbit: Bilbo rushed along the passage, very angry, and altogether bewildered and bewuthered

: Dead children in pre-modern setting The reality of pre-Industrial Revolution times was that about half the children born died before age 5. It would be a mistake to think that parents cared

: Sometimes a banana is just a banana Often reading analyses of books and films, I find that the analytics derive conclusions from the specific food or beverage that a character consumes. The

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